Growing appetite for risk and optimism over earnings lifted most Southeast Asian stock markets on Thursday, but the region ended the quarter mostly in the red due to a soft start to the year. Most sharemarkets capped the quarter near multi-week highs, helped by capital inflows. Turnover in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia each was well above the 30-day average, and brokers expect the positive mood to continue.
"The Thai stock market and this region share a similar positive economic outlook. Their uptrend is likely to continue, at least in the medium term," said Pichai Lertsupongkij, head of Thanachart Securities investment advisory business in Bangkok. Thai stocks added $132 million in foreign inflows on Thursday after racking up $208 million in inflows the previous session, the largest since February 2008, the exchange said.
The benchmark SET index dipped 0.3 percent on Thursday, coming off a 14-year intraday peak. Thailand gained 1.4 percent in the first quarter, Southeast Asia's second best, trailing a 1.7 percent climb in Malaysia, the best. Others suffered losses in the first quarter. Indonesia and the Philippines saw their worst quarter in nine weeks, losing 0.7 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
Indonesia attracted $109 million of inflows on Thursday, the biggest in almost seven weeks, and the Philippines gained $25 million in inflows, the biggest in almost three weeks, Thomson Reuters data showed. Most posted outflows in the quarter, including Indonesia's $460 million and Thailand's $20 million.
Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, heading for a quarterly gain despite a sharp sell-off earlier this month after disaster struck Japan, while the yen was poised for a quarterly loss on expectations Tokyo will have to maintain super-loose monetary policy far longer than Europe and the United States. Some bank stocks extended gains. Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's biggest lender, surged 4.6 percent to four-month highs, and Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 1.3 percent to six-week highs.